At least 22 people, including 13 Shias, were killed in Quetta and Khyber Agency’s Bara tehsil on Thursday when a car bomb tore through a bus carrying pilgrims in the troubled Balochistan province and militants staged several attacks in the tribal agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta and said it was a suicide attack targeting Shias.
Reports said the bus attacked in Quetta was carrying Shia pilgrims from Taftan, Iran and was targeted near a fruit market in the provincial capital’s Hazarganji area.
The dead included two women and two policemen escorting the bus, while over two dozen people were injured in the blast.
Some claimed that the blast was a suicide attack, but officials denied, with Quetta Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mahmood saying the bus had been targeted with an explosives-laden car parked along the road in Hazarganji. He said the bus was carrying around 50 Shia pilgrims of the Hazara community from Taftan to Quetta.
The Bomb Disposal Squad said a remote-controlled bomb of around 50 kg had been used in the attack.
DIG Investigation Hamid Shakeel confirmed that passengers were pilgrims and were returning to Quetta after performing pilgrimage in Iran.
Locals said the bomb blast was so intense that it engulfed the bus in flames, forcing it into a ravine 50 feet below the road.
People from the surroundings rushed to help the injured, while rescue officials also arrived at the scene some time later. An emergency was declared in all hospitals of Quetta. Quetta has been rife with sectarian violence in recent months and Shias of the Hazara tribe have specifically been the target of hardliner Sunnis.
Several dozens have been killed over the past few months, but officials have only been paying a lip service and no assassin has been brought to the book so far.
In several chilling incidents, Shias have been hauled off buses, identified and shot dead in cold blood. Two such incidents occurred in September 2011 and in February 2012.
On April 14 this year gunmen riding a motorcycle in Quetta killed eight Shia Muslims in two attacks just minutes apart. Such “sport” killing of Shias has blemished the government’s already tattered image and brought condemnations from around the globe.
Meanwhile, at least nine people, including seven personnel of security forces, were killed and several others injured in three terrorist acts in Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. Those killed included a captain of Frontier Corps and two volunteers of peace lashkar.
The most tragic terrorist act of the day occurred at Al Haaj Market in Bara where a vehicle of security forces was targeted by militants with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The official said seven personnel, including a captain were killed and four others injured. Two hours before of the attack, a patrolling party of security forces was targeted by militants with an IED at Qambarabad. Three personnel of security forces were injured in the attack. Early on Thursday, volunteers of a peace lashkar were targeted with a similar IED at Sheen Qamar area. The volunteers, Abdullah and Taj, were killed on the spot.
and here we have a bunch of retired idiots on Hamid Mir’s show saying Iran/India/Israel are behind Shia killings. Never mind the obvious TTP-LeJ-ASWJ-SSP terrorists laying siege to Quetta, and CM Raisani saying “no target killings in Quetta”….
This is gift for Pakistan to support USA and NATO.
This has nothing to do with NATO or USA. I am not a Shia but I condemn your effort to cover domestically manufactured sectarian organizations' orchestrated campaign to eliminate Shias by puting the blame on USA or NATO. This is purely a locally sponsored terrorism.
well said…
yesterday,there was a bomb attack on punjabi civilians returning from rawalpindi,it was a remote control attack and the terrorists waited till the train carrying punjabis from pindi arrived at Sibi station and then exploded the bomb.but there was no media outrage over those killings,no hashtags on twitter like the one we have today,no #Punjabigenocide being used by the twitterati or social media activists.
Why is there discrimination in the outrage expressed when its an attack on innocent shias as opposed to when it's an attack on punjabi civilians? both the types of terrorist attacks deserve equal condemnation.
@Muhammad Ali. Yes,there has been silence amongst the news channels as well as the social media activists over the genocide of punjabi settlers in balochistan.there is no condemnation,no nothing when punjabis are targetted and killed in balochistan.
Punjabi settlers are innocent but they have faced consequences of policies made and adopted by Punjab-dominated establishment. Look at the present campaign by Punjab-dominated media and judiciary against ruling coalition dominated by leadership of smaller provinces.
This is gift for Pakistan to support USA and NATO.
and here we have a bunch of retired idiots on Hamid Mir's show saying Iran/India/Israel are behind Shia killings. Never mind the obvious TTP-LeJ-ASWJ-SSP terrorists laying siege to Quetta, and CM Raisani saying "no target killings in Quetta"….
This is gift for Pakistan to support USA and NATO.
What about the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in India?
BTW, there is no ethnic cleansing of Shias in Pakistan by the Pakistanis.
Why dont you criticize straigthaway the terrorism faced by Shias?Why do u want to shift focus of criticism?
Why don't you simply condemn India for the killing of all Muslims including Shias and Sunnis?
Do not try to be over smart and do not drag in Indian muslims.
Stop ethnic cleansing of Shias of Pakistan.
Location is within Pakistan. The Information is being given by a Pakistani reporter, being publshed by Pakistani newspaper. Even then, you are denying it.
Why do the Pakistanis not come out of 'Denial Mode' syndrome and face upto the real ground situations.
You can confirm from some Psychatrists that running away from facing the truthful situations is a serious desease.
What Pakistan really needs is cleanse itself of ppp. The stupid ppp followers are too ignorant to see whats going on in the country. And its because 99.99% of the ppp workers are employed as domestic help in big houses where there is no effect of what happens in the rest of the country. If they ever brake this chain of slavery maybe it would open their eyes but they are too supid to get out of their situations. No wonder ppp claims to be the party of the poor (and hungry and homeless).
The real problem being faced by Pakistan today is to treat the anti-PPP dengi from which certain sections of society mostly from Urban Central Punjab and some Urdu-speaking elites from Karachi are suffering. Some chemical gas requires to be used either to eliminate germs breeding in their bodies or to suffocate them to death once and for all.
Like I said before. As long as the these low life, sewer deweller ppp followers are alive, Pakistan can never make any progress. Its useless to debate with them because their intellectual level is way below norm.
May I add PMLN and MQM to the list as well please.
The word cleansing is most appropriate as not until we eradicate, annihilate, destroy, obliterate, kill, eliminate every PPP, PMLN & MQM followers, we the Pakistanis will not have rest.
Freedom for all & brotherhood between each of us. There is no difference between us as long as you are not a scum under Nawaz, Zardari & Altaf's feet.
This newspaper seems to have been sold out to Nawaz or Imran.
Try to make some sense for God's sake
Where is UN? Where is Iran? when you need them.This state sponsored atrocities-why the deafening silence from the so called champions of humam rights-have they all been bought over by the wahabis???
The Govt's silence poses a quetion(In ex President Bush's words) ARE YOU WITH "THEM" or with the innocent martyrs who were coming back from pilgrimage
oo bhai plzz. They are not a Minority. Do you even know a Minority means?? The Term minority in a Muslim country is used for non-Muslims meray bhai.
If shias a sect of Islam are unsafe you can only guess at the fate of non muslims,No wonder the only growth has been in the technology of exploding sophisticated bombs.
I just want to add, there is no peace for anyone here, but InshaAllah there will be, for we wil fight for the rights of the muslims & the non muslims.
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